England thrashed a 3-0 victory in the Ashes series against Australia after the fifth and final Test ended in a thrilling draw. However, Australian captain Michael Clarke believes his team can hit back in the return Ashes series at home.
While the captain admitted England deserved the win, he suggested his side was taking shape for the return series, signaling a much closer battle in November.
In a post-match press conference Clarke said, "I think we take a lot of positives especially out of the last three Test matches".
"Maybe I'm biased but I think we would have won in Manchester if it didn't rain."
Clarke was particularly pleased with the performance of Steve Smith and Chris Rogers and the return to form of Shane Watson, who scored a career-best 178 at The Oval.
"I'm really pleased with the boys, some special personal achievements I think. Obviously Chris Rogers and Steve Smith to score their first hundreds for Australia is outstanding."
"Shane Watson batted beautifully for a big hundred and our bowlers fought their backsides off for the whole series," he added.
Michael Clarke tried to infuse some excitement in the fifth Test after fourth day's play was washed out by setting England a target of 227 to win in a challenging declaration.
England came close to winning when they needed 21 more to off 24 balls with five wickets intact, but umpires Aleem Dar and Kumar Dharmasena decided the light, even with the floodlights on, was too dark to continue and ended the match at 19:35 local time (00:05 IST).
England kept the Ashes for the third successive time for the first time since the 1950s. Thus Australia failed to win a single Test in an Ashes series for the first time since their 3-0 loss in England in 1977. Also, they have not won a match in nine Tests, having lost all four Tests in India earlier in the year.
(with inputs from IANS)
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